Dreaming of Akina

Chapter Fifty Three

If it wasn't because Yuuichi had had to co-sign the marriage certificate, he would have never believed his best friend when he had told him that he too was getting married and now, while he followed the huge limousine which was taking Bunta and Midori to the most expensive hotel in Yokohama, he still had trouble believing everything that had happened during his absence.

Not only marriage-allergic Bunta had tied the knot but was about to become a father too. Yuuichi knew that he wasn't allowed to share the news with anyone but he still found it perversely funny to think of his best friend dealing with a newborn baby.

He had to keep himself from laughing out loud while he followed the just married couple, the bride's parents and Bunta's uncle all the way to the enormous reception hall Midori had booked for her wedding. There, Yuuichi spotted his wife and went to join her as soon as he could.

'How did it go?' Fuka asked him.

'I'm most impressed,' Yuuichi replied, his voice just above a whisper, 'I thought he would run away half way through the ceremony,' he added while still trying to repress his mirth.

'Darling, it's not funny,' Fuka admonished him, 'you know the reason they're getting married, don't you?'

'Yes,' Yuuichi replied, this time looking around himself to check if anyone was within hearing distance. There was no one and, lowering his tone of voice even more, he said, 'Fuka, please…'

'I know, I know,' she replied, 'we're not supposed to know either.'

'That's right,' Yuuichi agreed, 'now, let's go and help Bunta…the poor thing needs it.'

To be perfectly honest, Yuuichi was very worried about his best friend. That same morning when he'd gone to pick up both his best friend and his uncle at the tofu shop, Bunta's usually healthy complexion was a delicate shade of green and he looked more like a convict on his way to death row than the happy groom he was supposed to be.

He knew that comparisons were never a good idea but, with his own wedding still so fresh in his memory, Yuuichi could not help but to notice just how different the two events were. His and Fuka's wedding was a small affair, done in a small shrine and celebrated at the local inn with just a few close friends and the families.

Here, Midori had organised what probably was one of the biggest social meets of the year. Yuuich knew that the Itachi were one of the richest families in Yokohama and that they had numerous high-class connections, which explained the fact that, asides the very few guests from the groom's side, Yuuichi didn't know anyone else.

The poor Bunta had never looked any more out of place and, for the first time since he'd known him, Yuuichi felt a rush of pity for the guy. He was so busy thinking about all that that he didn't even see Bunta marching towards him.

'Let's go,' he said grabbing him by the sleeve.

'W-where?' Yuuichi asked, getting ready to follow him nevertheless.

'Anywhere,' Bunta replied, 'Fuka-chan, you don't mind if I borrow your husband for a bit, do you?'

'No,' Fuka replied smiling kindly, 'go ahead.'

'Thanks,' Bunta said and, with that, he just rushed across the room, looking around himself nervously, probably checking whether Midori spotted him running away. Fortunately, the girl seemed to be busy talking with one of the many guests.

'Safe,' Bunta said the second the two of them finally made it to the wide terrace where the hotel had its swimming pool. Yuuichi was about to open his mouth to speak when Bunta said, 'so, have you thought about what I asked you?'

'Eh?'

'The car,' Bunta explained, 'is it okay if I borrow your car? With all that's been going on I won't have time to…'

'Bunta,' Yuuichi interrupted him, 'don't tell me you're still going to race that Keiichiro what's-his-name guy?'

'His name is Tsuchiya Keiichi,' Bunta supplied, 'and yes, I have every intention of racing him.'

'But you're married now and…'

'Don't remind me,' Bunta commanded, 'now, are you going to lend me your car or not? Because if you don't I'll have to find another car. I don't know, I may even borrow the Bellett.'

'Yeah, right,' a sceptical Yuuichi said, 'as if your uncle would ever let you race with his baby.'

'Don't say baby,' Bunta nearly shrieked.

'Bunta…'

'Denial is a very powerful coping mechanism, okay?' Bunta said, 'it's all I've got right now so please, do me a favour don't mention the M or the B words till I say it's okay for you to do so, understood?'

'S-sure,' Yuuichi said.

'And, if you make me ask for your car again I'll just go and steal it…'

'No, no,' Yuuichi hurried to say, 'you know you can use it. If there's someone who I can trust when it comes to cars, that's you. But you're going to need to change the tyres, I haven't replaced the winter ones yet.'

'Don't worry,' Bunta assured him, 'I was planning on giving it a bit of an overhaul but I simply don't have enough time to do that. I'll just take it for a spin tomorrow night and see what needs to be done.'

'Okay,' Yuuichi said. Then, speaking as cautiously as he could, he added, 'Bunta, there's something I need to ask you though…'

'What is it?'

'I know you're not ready for…all of this…,' Yuuichi said, bracing himself for the worst, 'but, you're still going to do your best to, you know…make things work.'

Bunta stared at his best friend for a short while with a pained expression on his face before giving him what wanted to be a reassuring nod.

'Then I won't worry about it anymore,' Yuuichi concluded. 'Now, what's the strategy for the race?'

'Strategy?' Bunta asked him, 'none…just try and be faster than the opponent.'

A fortnight after the wedding, Bunta drove his 2000GT from his new home in Yokohama all the way to the border between Nagano and Gunma where the Usui pass was. He felt grateful that his new job with Nissan's PD3 was keeping him busy enough so that sleeping was pretty much all he did in the ridiculously big apartment Itachi-san had bought them as a wedding gift.

He had to give it to Midori though: Yokohama was a lot closer to the PD3 facilities than Shibukawa and, thanks to that, he didn't have to get up horribly early in the morning to go to work. Despite that, he still missed the little town where he'd lived in the past four years.

Not only that but he also missed the tofu shop and, more than anything else, he missed living with that crazy old man that was Eikichi Fujiwara. He wondered how his uncle was keeping up and, more than once, he'd had to repress the urge to go and call him so that he could check on him.

'He'll be okay,' Bunta mumbled to himself.

Eikichi had been alone for most of his life and excelled at the art of taking care of himself so, realistically speaking, Bunta didn't have any good reason to believe that his uncle would suffer without him being there. In all honesty, Bunta knew that it was more the other way round: it was him who was suffering. A lot.

Being fair and up until then, Midori had been nothing but a perfect wife who never complained about her husband's long hours at work or the fact that since their wedding they had yet to spend more than an hour on their own in which Bunta wasn't sleeping.

She also did her best to appear always at her best and Bunta thanked her for that. He was terrified that once they would be married she would start wearing jerseys and would stop taking care of her appearance. Fortunately, marriage had had the contrary effect: Midori was even more beautiful than ever.

Fuka had the theory that it was also the fact that she was pregnant. Apparently, or so Fuka said, pregnant women were supposed to look prettier because the hormones made their skin glow with a different light.

Whatever the reason, Bunta felt lucky that in spite of everything, he still found his wife to be an immensely attractive woman who knew how to make her husband happy in the bedroom. If anything, that was an aspect of their relationship Bunta would never have to worry about.

His main source of concern, what was robbing him of his peace of mind, was the tiny life which he knew was growing inside Midori's still perfectly flat tummy. He had never felt anymore scared in his life and he knew that in nine months time, he would still be far from being ready.

Sure, he had considered having kids at some point in his life but, at twenty two years old, he was still a big kid himself and because of this he simply didn't see him capable of being a decent father. Maybe in ten years time, when he'd be an accomplished racer, but not now. Definitely not now.

Unfortunately, he didn't have any other acceptable choice: he had messed up badly and he had to deal with the consequences of his massive miscalculation the best way he could. He just hope his nerves would be able to cope with what was to come…

At long last he made it to the top of the Usui pass where he could see four other cars parked: Masashi's Nissan Fairlady Z, Tsuchiya's Honda S600, Yuuichi's Mazda Capella and, for some reason, Mitsuri's Subaru Leone. No one else was there, not even the usual people who came to assist to the races as public.

In fact, Tsuchiya had organised the whole affair in secret and had insisted that he didn't want anyone watching them race. He had told him that he was nervous enough as it was just by knowing that he'd be racing his idol Bunta Fujiwara.

'Idol…' Bunta muttered climbing out of the car, 'as if.'

'Hey,' Keiichi said, 'you're late!'

'I know,' Bunta said, 'sorry.'

'It's okay,' Tsuchiya said, 'I'm just happy you're here, Fujiwara-san.'

Bunta just offered the younger guy one of his enigmatic smiles, the ones which gave Yuuichi goose bumps for one never knew what the guy was thinking when he smiled like that. At any rate, it didn't last for too long for Bunta looked at Mitsuri and said:

'I take you're here to act as referee?'

'That's correct,' Mitsuri replied, 'if that's okay with you, of course?'

'No problem,' Bunta said, 'let's get things started.'

Soon Bunta was sitting in Yuuichi's Capella, with the car's owner staring at him through the open window. Bunta took the keys to the 2000GT and placed them in Yuuichi's hand while saying:

'If I crash your car, you've got my permission to go and crash mine, okay?'

Yuuichi shook his head and said:

'I won't need to do that. I'm sure you're going to win.'

Bunta just nodded once and that made Yuuichi feel uneasy. He knew that Bunta had been through a lot recently and that he was a little out of practice when it came to street racing. He also knew that after having raced legally and in a semi-professional league, this little race probably wasn't enough to get him nervous.

But Yuuichi knew that Bunta wasn't nervous. There was some other unidentified emotion displayed on his best friend's face. Something powerful enough to make Bunta forget that he was supposed to be an arrogant brat, always ready to brag about his god-sent driving skills.

'I'll see you after you beat him,' Yuuichi tried again.

'Yeah,' was all Bunta said.

With that, the young man rolled up the window and Yuuichi observed him while he turned on the engine and started making the car move towards the starting point of the race: somewhere past the little barrier which was used to close the pass during the snow storms.

'How is he doing?' Masashi asked Yuuichi once he joined the two older racers by their cars.

'I'm not sure,' Yuuichi replied.

'Is he okay?' Mitsuri asked them and that made both Yuuichi and Masashi exchanged a quick, worried glance, as though as they were trying to decide who was going to reply to the question. Unable to reach an agreement, both men spoke at the same time when they said:

'He's fine.'

Mitsuri frowned slightly and would have probably voiced his perplexity if it wasn't because, right at that instant, they heard both cars taking off, with the dirty white Honda tailing the dark blue Mazda. Having Bunta leading, instead of making him feel better, made Yuuichi become even more worried.

He knew very well that in this particular pass there weren't many places where one could overtake the opponent but he also had learned from Mitsuri that Tsuchiya was a local here who seemed to know the pass as well as Bunta knew Akina. Because of this it was more than likely that he knew where and how to attack with pinpoint precision.

'He's fine,' he heard Masashi say.

'I hope so,' Yuuichi said.

'Hey,' Mitsuri exclaimed, 'why the long faces? Fujiwara's nearly a professional. He's got a lot more experience than Tsuchiya who, let's not forget, is just barely old enough to have his license. I know that he's racing in his turf but, come on, I've raced against Fujiwara and he beat me in my own home course, remember?'

'Yeah,' Yuuichi said, 'it's just that…'

'What?'

'Nothing,' Masashi intervened glaring at Yuuichi, 'it's nothing. We're just worried because Bunta hasn't been street racing for a while and, you know…'

'Ah, I see,' Mitsuri said, 'you shouldn't worry though: like I said, I'm sure Fujiwara will pull one of his usual stunts and will make Tsuchiya regret that he's challenged Fujiwara so stupidly early. If you ask me, the kid's good but, not that good.'

Meanwhile, Bunta was just about managing to keep the Capella in the line he wanted. He was pushing the poor Mazda well beyond its limits and Bunta knew that unless he did something soon, Tsuchiya would probably get close enough to attempt an attack.

Twice he'd looked at the rear view mirror and twice he'd seen the crazy way in which Tsuchiya got his little Honda to clear the corners. The kid was even crazier than he was and seemed to like getting as close to the guardrails as humanly possible if that made the turn shorter.

Bunta did his best to concentrate, applying every bit of his racing experience to his driving. He knew that Yuuichi's Capella wasn't the kind of car he was used to but, again, he found its compactness an asset, rather than a handicap.

In a steep and twisted road such as this one, it was easier to control a car like the Mazda Capella rather than his 2000GT which, after all, was a beast built for speed. Also, the fact that the Capella was a lot less powerful gave Bunta an extra incentive to drive it even better so that he would not slow down unless it was strictly necessary.

A couple of turns before the infamous, three-lane C121, Bunta started driving by grip, knowing that it was important that he entered the wide corner in complete control of his vehicle, also because he suspected that Tsuchiya would use that specific corner to issue his first attack.

Taking a deep breath, he shifted gears, adjusted his pedal work and readied himself to let the car slide on its tyres when he saw that the S600 veered towards the outside of the corner, nearly kissing the heavy looking guardrail in the process.

Not having enough time to worry about Tsuchiya, Bunta decided to try and close as much gap as possible while he finally entered the corner. Unfortunately, not even his most advanced skills could prevent what happened next:

Tsuchiya, instead of clearing the corner using the outside as Bunta had originally thought, used his car's agility to get it across the width of the road, moving towards the inner-most lane, almost crashing sideways against the rocky wall. He then straightened the S600 by sheer inertia and, using that single lane, he drifted all the way to the end of the turn.

Bunta could only watch while Tsuchiya literally brushed past him, forcing him to open up his line to prevent a more than certain collision.

Knowing that he still had a chance, Bunta floored the throttle and hoped that the Capella's more powerful engine would take care of the rest. Alas, it seemed like the S600 still had some power left and that somehow allowed Tsuchiya to keep the lead all the way to the following corner.

'Shit,' Bunta muttered. This had to be the first time in his life that someone had managed to overtake him in the middle of a race in which with both cars were still functional and running. Sure, this had happened a few times in the Fuji Series but, never before in his street racing days.

Taking a couple of steadying breaths, he decided to change strategy: from then on and until the end of the race he would not cease to attack Tsuchiya. Home course or not, there was no way he could let that kid beat him.

Staying true to his word, he stuck the Capella's front bumper to the rear of the S600 and, in the very next corner, he tried to overtake Tsuchiya who then proceeded to close the gap with such an expertise that even Bunta was left in awe.

Not giving up, Bunta tried again and again and again, forcing Tsuchiya to use every single one of his tricks to make sure that the Capella stayed safely behind his Honda. Then, with just a handful of corners till the end of the course, Bunta decided to get a whole lot more aggressive:

Right before the entry point of a low speed lefthander, Bunta pushed the Honda by brushing its rear bumper. That made the S600 become slightly less stable and, while Tsuchiya was busy trying to straighten up his racing line, Bunta forced the Capella in the inside of the corner.

He had almost made it past the Honda when Tsuchiya, probably using the sudden jolt, made his car get across the road, the same way he'd done in the C121 corner, thus forcing Bunta to slam on the brake pedal to avoid a crash.

'Not good…' he mumbled.

Waiting for the next corner, he tried something else; this time he decided to copy Tsuchiya and got his car across the corner, placing his car in a perfect parallel line with the S600 only that, at the exit of the corner, Bunta forced Keiichi towards the outside, again hoping that the Capella's more powerful engine would give him the advantage he needed.

It did and Keiichi was forced to let Bunta pass while he slowed down so that he would not end the race stuck on the guardrail. That said, Bunta knew better than to shout out his happiness and, instead, did his best to remain focused throughout the last three corners before the point where they would end the race.

Both cars cleared first a right-hander, then a left-hander and Bunta could already see the finish line when, Keiichi, in what probably was an attack driven mostly by desperation, pushed Bunta's Capella with his Honda's front bumper. That made Bunta lose control of his car for just a fraction of a second but that was all Keiichi needed:

Sending the S600 all the way to the inner edge of the very last corner of the race, Tsuchiya made all four tyres slide across it, using only goodness knew what to make the car go at an insanely fast speed. Bunta did his best to stay ahead but both cars exited the corner at the same exact level.

That kid was so stubborn! Bunta thought to himself while he felt the Capella's accelerator pedal touch the car's floor. He knew that the poor engine was already giving him all it had but, somehow, he still hoped that something would make it go faster.

'I can't believe it,' Tsuchiya said once both drivers were out of their cars.

'You better do,' Bunta replied.

'But, Fujiwara-san…I…'

'Hey,' Bunta interrupted him, 'weren't you going to call me Bunta?'

'Yeah, but…'

'I've lost,' Bunta said, 'you've beaten me fair and square. It's only right that you get to call me Bunta.'

'But I can't…' Keiichi insisted.

'You can and you must,' Bunta commanded, 'in fact, if you call me anything else, I'll just ignore you.'

Keiichi didn't seem to like that very much and he shook his head vigorously.

'Okay,' he gave in, 'I'll call you Bunta if you call me Keiichi.'

'But…'

'Take it or leave it,' Keiichi said, this time allowing himself a cheeky smile which only managed to make him look a few years younger than he really was.

'Okay, Keiichi it is,' Bunta conceded.

'And,' Keiichi continued, 'you've got to let me race you in Akina. I think I've beaten you only because I know that in that last corner, at this time of the night and this time of the year there's always a bit of extra frost on the grass which has made my car glide faster.'

Bunta could not believe what he was hearing.

'So,' he said, 'that's what you did…'

'Yep,' Keiichi replied, 'I know this road like the back of my hand so I had a little bit of advantage. That's why I want to race you in Akina too.'

'Look,' Bunta said, 'I'm not trying to make up excuses but…'

'You know,' Keiichi interrupted him, 'I haven't told anyone yet but I'm saving up every yen I can to buy the same car you used for the Fuji Series. At the rate I'm going, I should be able to debut in about two years from now. I know that I'll probably have to quit street racing or I'll get in trouble with the federation and that's one of the reasons why I want to race you now.'

'I see,' Bunta said, 'what's the other reason?'

'Well,' Keiichi replied, looking slightly embarrassed, 'if we don't race sometime soon, I fear that your skills will get way too good for my level. Just now…the way you drift…' he shuddered visibly.

Bunta could not help but to burst out laughing and, unable to do anything different, he nodded and said:

'Okay, we'll race in Akina, just not now. My life's got a little bit complicated at the moment and…'

'Tachibana-san told me that you just got married,' Keiichi said, 'so I take you want to spend some time with your new wife. I understand and, since you've got my number, just call me whenever you have the chance, okay?'

'Sure,' Bunta agreed.

'Regarding this race,' Keiichi said, 'I'd like to keep its outcome a secret. You're still my idol and I don't want anyone to know that you…well, I would prefer if no one knew about it.'

'But…'

'Bunta,' Keiichi said, 'one day, when I'm a professional racer and I'll be famous, I might decide to brag about it, but that day it's still too far so let's keep it a secret, please?'

Bunta nodded once more and, with that, his first loss ever was never officially recorded. When asked by the only three people present at the race, both him and Keiichi just pretended to go suddenly deaf. In any case, that night Bunta knew that he and that crazy kid called Keiichi Tsuchiya had established what would probably be a long-lasting friendship.

To be continued…